The name of this tango is in Italian and it means “etching”, an engraving technique perfected by Spaniard Francisco Goya and Lucientes at the beginning of the 19th century . Etching has since been closely associated with the representation of tipical custom scenes. Marambio Catan wrote the lyrics in 1931. The tango was inspired by the cabaret Excelsior in Milan. Benito Mussolini was the ruler in Italy at the time. Catan and Pettorossi were aprehensive about presenting their tango because of the anarchist ideas implied in scenes describing suffering mothers, homeless children and a dirty old man squandering money on champagne after having denied a raise to an employee who wanted another slice of bread. To their relief, tenor Gino Franci introduced to the public with great success.

It’s midnight. The cabaret’s wakin’ up.
A lot of women, flowers, and champagne
The eternal sad party of those who live
to the beat of a tango is about to begin.
I’m chained by forty years of life,
with a grey-haired head and an old heart:
Today I can watch with a lot of sorrow
what at other times I saw through rose-colored glasses.

The poor taxi dancers,
Stupified by kisses,
Stare at me, as if strangers,
With curiosity.
They don’t recognize me anymore.
I’m lonely and old.
There’s no light in my eyes …
Life is getting shorter.

An old rake that spends his money
Getting Lulu’ drunk with his champagne
Today he denied a raise to a poor worker
Who asked him for one more piece of bread.
That poor woman who sells flowers
who was the queen of Montmartre in my time,
Offers me, with a smile, some violets,
Maybe to make my loneliness less blue.

And I think about life:
mothers that suffer,
children that roam
with neither bread nor a roof,
selling newspapers,
for two cents …
How sad it all is!
I feel like cryin’!